Jayson Coleman
As a college student studying English, finding time to write is necessary for my success. Yet, when it comes to personal projects, finding time to write has been one of my greatest struggles.
Ever since I came to UW-Eau Claire three years ago, I’ve always found excuses for why I haven’t been working on these projects. For the first few months of my freshman year, my main excuse was that I didn’t have a project I was working on. Once I started my newest novel in the spring of 2023, though, my reasons for not writing seemed to come just as fast as my ideas for the story. I struggled to write during the earliest stages of my draft because I always found starting a project to be the hardest part of writing. My novel was also going to be heavily based around a friend of mine, and I wanted to make sure I had their approval before diving into it.
Once I got a few chapters into my draft and received joyous approval from my friend, though, my excuses not to write kept on coming. So much of my time was spent in class, doing homework, or at my job, and when I had free time, I had many different hobbies to balance. I loved working on my novel, but I also liked reading, going to events on- and off-campus, and exploring Eau Claire. It got to a point where I was doing so much writing for class that whenever I had free time, writing was one of the last things I wanted to do. Instead, in these situations, I often found myself resorting to doing nothing, loitering on the internet as the hours slowly ticked away. While my writing pace during breaks improved as I progressed further into my novel, my pace during the school year was often lacking, managing to complete about a page a week if I was lucky.
I conducted research on time management tips for writers, and one tip that emerged was to not overlook “true priorities” in favor of writing, with schoolwork and self-care being my top priorities. Still, I knew that my writing pace was unsustainable. The more time that passed between writing sessions, the harder it was for me to get ideas flowing once I sat down to write. Plus, I often thought about my novel far more often than I worked on it, so by not writing I was failing to take advantage of my creative momentum.
Some of the other tips I found were ones that I was already familiar with; for instance, being cautious about multitasking (I learned that the hard way), avoiding procrastination and distractions, and not trying to be perfect, among others. When it came to figuring out what tips I would implement to make sure I found time to write, though, I decided to keep it simple.
In the words of Zach Boldt, a friend of mine and fellow author at UWEC, I would “just write.” For a span of two weeks, from April 6, 2025, to April 19, 2025, I would make a point to write every day, following the key tip of being disciplined that I came across in my online research.
The typical layout of one of the author's writing sessions, in a quiet study room and with an array of "helpful" items. These items include, from left to right, his novel outline, laptop, emoji pillow (which the novel is partly based on), Girl Scout cookies to snack on, full water bottle, and writing utensils.
For this “experiment,” I would be working on my current project titled Valerie: The Novel. This story took heavy inspiration from a very special experience of mine, when a friend gave me a ride home from theatre practice for the first time and gave me an emoji pillow which quickly became my most cherished possession. I took this brief experience and chose to expand upon it, asking what would happen if my friend was secretly a government agent, the emoji pillow she gifted me was the most monetarily valuable item on Earth, and my friend’s car, named Valerie, could talk.
When my experiment began, my initial goal was to write at least a page every day, or at least three to four hundred words. Another initial goal was that my writing time wouldn’t interfere with the time I spent on my “true priorities,” but instead would become a part of my pleasure time. As recent UWEC graduate and author Eliot Gannon said, writing “is especially easy if you don’t view it as work, because it isn’t, really. You can have a lot of fun with it!”
The second floor of UWEC's Davies Center well after peak lunch hours, which the author found was an ideal place to sit down and write (unless he got distracted by the building's strange music playlists).
During this experiment, there were a few trends that I noticed with my writing. Some of the general trends I noticed were that I’m a night writer, I tend to write in the same few locations (either a quiet study room in my dorm building or the second floor of the Davies Center after lunch hours), and I often brought many items with me to sessions that I felt I “needed” to write.
As for the writing itself, I realized there were some days where I was more motivated to write than others. While I initially expected to aim for about 400 words a day, there were days where I well overshot that estimate, writing between 700 and 900 words, which normally came when I was ending chapters or writing key moments that I had been planning in my head for a long time. On the other hand, there were also days where I was exhausted from school and homework, and writing 400 words was the last thing I wanted to do. On these days, I thought I’d just write about 200 words to get something down on paper then go to bed, but I ended up getting so caught up in scenes that even on my least productive days, I never wrote less than 300 words.
“The most important trends I noticed from this experiment come in the form of one pro and one con. ”
The most important trends I noticed from this experiment come in the form of one pro and one con. The pro of writing every day was that I found it a lot easier to start writing in each session, especially as the two weeks went on. By having shorter breaks in between sessions, it created a consistent train of thought when writing and helped keep my mind on the novel when I wasn’t. The major con with this experiment was that while I was hoping my writing time would cut into my leisure time, that was not the case. Instead, I found myself constantly pushing back assignments I needed to work on and, arguably worse, drastically diminishing the time I spent sleeping. While I was incredibly proud of the progress I made on my novel during this time (over twenty pages and 8,000 words written), throughout much of these two weeks I was stressed, mentally drained, and the 6 hours of sleep I consistently received every night did not help with that.
After processing the successes and failures of my experiment, and with the help of authors who I interviewed, I crafted a list of what I learned about ways I could improve my time management and make my writing sessions more effective. While each of these tips come from the perspective of an overworked college student, I believe they are applicable to anyone struggling with finding time to write, or to any writer in general. Finally, while some of my tips reflect what I’ve found through research or by word of mouth, I’ve learned that I don’t agree with every piece of advice I’ve heard before. I think it’s best to take advice from multiple different sources or find what works best for you specifically (although forcing yourself to write every day for two weeks might not be the best way to find that.)
TIP #1: SLEEP
This is barely a writing tip, more of a general health and wellness tip. Make sure you get enough sleep at night; I failed to do so during my experiment and many things suffered because of that. Getting enough sleep not only makes you feel refreshed while writing, but also in everything else you do. Again, this is barely a writing tip, and more of an emphasis in relation to…
TIP #2: DON’T WRITE EVERY DAY IF YOU FEASIBLY CANNOT WRITE EVERY DAY
Or in other words, routine is most important. I feel like a general tip I often hear as a writer is to write as often as I can and write every day if possible. Sometimes, though, writing every day is simply not possible and that’s okay. If writing every day is possible for you, then that’s great and you should try to fit writing into your schedule as often as you can, but writing every other day or once or twice a week also works. During my last winter break, I made a point to write at least every other day, and it might’ve been my most productive month of writing ever! The key here is making sure you’re not taking long breaks in between sessions so what you’re writing can stay fresh in your mind.
Tied to this idea is scheduling specific times to write. I failed to schedule specific times to write during my experiment, and as a result, everything else suffered. I was writing when I should’ve been working on schoolwork, so I ended up putting off those assignments. Then, my writing sessions took longer than anticipated and cut into my sleep time, and that made me exhausted and stressed when I finally sat down to do work. I’ll definitely try to do a better job of scheduling writing times in the future, especially during the school year.
“It’s entirely different than forcing yourself to write,” Boldt said on scheduling writing time, “having something be part of a routine is pretty healthy. That’s good, just finding a good space in your schedule to plop in another thing.”
Even McKenna Dutton, a recent UWEC graduate whose biggest piece of writing advice is to essentially force yourself to write (“just do it,” she says), finding a consistent scheduled routine was key in helping her make progress with her writing.
“When I came to college, I created ‘Future Creatives,’” Dutton said, “which was a group on campus where we would dedicate an hour at least, two times a week, to write. That really helped me a lot to keep me from not procrastinating.”
(To any current Blugolds who may be reading this, although Dutton has graduated, “Future Creatives” will still be going strong! So, if you’re looking to find time to write, keep your eye out for when they’ll be meeting!)
TIP #3: SET GOALS. SET LOTS OF GOALS.
Goals can be for a singular session or a broader period of time. During my experiment, I set a goal for how much I wanted to write every day. A goal doesn’t have to be tied to a word or page count, though. As Gannon told me, sometimes a goal can involve “fleshing out a character or putting down a plot beat,” and that simply accomplishing a goal constitutes a successful writing session.
During the two years I’ve spent working on my novel, I’ve also set multiple long-term goals for myself. First, it was “get to 30 pages by the end of the summer,” then “get to 100 pages by the end of sophomore year,” “get to 150 pages by the end of summer 2024,” “get to 200 pages by the end of junior year,” and now “finish my rough draft before the end of summer.” While I’ve only succeeded in two of my four long-term goals, they all motivated me to write and therefore accomplished their main purpose. I’ve found that always having a goal to shoot for, whether short-term or long-term, has motivated me to write, even if I didn’t successfully complete the goal. The sense of accomplishment and progress that completing goals brings is also a great motivator in itself!
TIP #4: READ! READ! READ!
On the topic of motivation, while I’ve never been one to read for inspiration (yet!), each of my friends brought this up so I thought it’d be important to mention.
“What motivates me to write is anything I’m reading,” Gannon said. “I view writing as: you don’t get a lot of output if you don’t have a lot of input. Reading is the input, so you need to read to get that output. And then anything I think is cool, like styles (or genres), will get me into a phase. And often, whatever phase I’m in will inspire my writing.”
“What inspires me is reading really good books or watching really good movies,” Dutton said. “I love when books or movies feel real, and the fact that we can capture that through fiction, of all things, is fascinating to me.”
“I am motivated by the books I read,” Boldt said. “I would also recommend bringing a book wherever you are writing because I read when I get stuck. Or I do crosswords, anything to keep my mind occupied.”
TIP #5: LOCATION ISN’T CRUCIAL
I feel like I’ve heard that some people have a certain place they need to be or certain things they need to have in order to write. While I am “guilty” of often writing in the same places and with the same things, most of them aren’t necessary for me to write. In fact, I like the adventure that comes with discovering a new place to write, and as was the case with the second floor of Davies, some of those discoveries can prove successful!
The most important thing about a place is that it’s free of distractions. For me, any sound other than white noise can take me out of a writer’s mindset immediately, so I am very picky about where I write. If sound is less of an issue for you, then I’d recommend getting creative with where you work!
And, on the topic of distractions, don’t take your phone and/or check social media if possible during a session. If you need to check your phone, though (or if the thought of social media is eating away at you and preventing you from focusing on your writing), make it fast. Social media can be a time killer, and spending too much time on it during a writing session can horribly derail your train of thought.
TIP #6: TAKE NOTES! BEFORE, WHILE, AND AFTER YOU WRITE.
One of the author's post-session notes that helps him find his train of thought when starting his next session (character names redacted since they're based on real people).
As a writer, I’ve learned that notes and outlines are some of your best friends. Usually, when I come up with an idea for a larger project, I let the idea simmer in my head for a while before I sit down and write it. This simmering process is where I develop characters, plot threads, and specific lines or jokes. Once I’m finally ready to write, I take everything I’ve thought of during the simmering process and plop it down in an outline, the blueprint for my writing, adding to it as I go. My outline for Valerie: The Novel was about three-and-a-half pages long when I first put it down, and I’ve added around two extra pages of notes since. For me, an outline is a base structure that makes the writing process much easier and guarantees that I don’t forget to put down my most crucial ideas. And, while my current outlines primarily involve plot structures, I’d love to make larger outlines in the future where I also dive deeper into characters, their own arcs, and their dynamics with each other.
Especially over the past few months, I’ve also learned that taking notes after a session is just as important as outlining before a session or project. Sometimes when I finish a session, I don’t know how long it will be until I find time to write again. Oftentimes, when I sit down to write, I completely forget what I wrote about in the last session which can make starting to write very difficult. But, writing down something to guide me to where I take my story next after a session works wonders, even if it’s as short as one sentence. It helps alleviate the writer’s block that can appear at the beginning of any session, and I’d like to think it helps my writing feel more like a cohesive whole and not something that was written in multiple segments.
Finally, if you’re often thinking about your writing even when you’re doing other things, taking notes when you’re not writing is also extremely important.
“Most of the time, if inspiration strikes and you don’t want to forget it, but you think you’ll just remember it, you won’t,” Gannon said. “It’s good to just write a quick note, and those quick notes can be super useful, especially if you’re making them all the time. Eventually, all those fragments will add up and you might have a full story.”
TIP #7: STOPPING A SESSION IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS STARTING A SESSION
Stopping a session in the wrong place can make it very difficult to get ideas rolling the next time you sit down and write. For almost twenty-one years, my mind has defaulted to wanting to end sessions at the end of chapters or scenes, since that’s what made sense in my brain. This past semester, though, in my Playwriting class, I learned that might do more harm than good. Instead, sessions should be ended in the middle of scenes because that will make it easier for you to remember where you want to go when you start your next session. While taking notes and keeping a consistent routine can help diminish the effects of writer’s block if you end a session at the end of a scene or chapter, ending sessions in the middle of scenes has proven helpful in making the starts of sessions much easier.
Another thing I’d recommend in relation to stopping sessions is to stop when you get stuck. This may seem antithetical to the notion that the only way to get out of a writer’s block is to write, and I agree with that, but I also can’t deny that, sometimes, what a piece needs is space. There are many times where I knew where I wanted to go with a scene but wasn’t sure how to word it, so I slept on it for a day or two then opened my laptop and immediately knew what to do. Sometimes, all you need to tackle a tricky part of your story is a fresh mind. Of course, you won’t want to give a tricky part of your story too much space, otherwise you’ll risk forgetting where you wanted to take it altogether.
TIP #8: WRITE WHAT YOU WANT TO WRITE!
The author at work (totally in the middle of a writing session and not just pretending to write things down for a good picture).
This might be the most important tip of all. You wouldn’t risk losing hours of sleep over your writing if you weren’t passionate about what you wrote, you wouldn’t constantly set goals if you knew you didn’t care about completing those goals, nor would you spend days, months, if not years outlining if you didn’t want to write the best story you could. If I learned one thing from my experiment, it’s that you shouldn’t force yourself to write. If you don’t like what you’re writing, though, then you’re forcing yourself to write every time you write, and that should be an indicator that you might want to scrap that project and start something new. While you may have dreams of getting published, finding an audience with your work, and becoming a full-time writer, I am under the firm belief that we, as authors, write for ourselves before we write for anybody else.
“If you feel like you keep on encountering this mindset of, ‘I don’t have enough time to write’ or ‘I’m overly stressed,’ you can think of writing as a way to reduce that stress,” Gannon said. “It has therapeutic properties, and then you can also create something good with it. Writing is especially easy if you don’t view it as work, because it isn’t, really, but view it as pleasure or fun because you can have a lot of fun with it.”